Life at HOK » Sustainable Designhttp://www.hoklife.com
Meet the HOK people behind the projectsMon, 30 Mar 2015 20:22:34 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1HOK Sports + Recreation + Entertainment Sustainability Leader Chris DeVolder Presents at USGBC Georgia’s 2015 Meetinghttp://www.hoklife.com/2015/01/29/hok-sports-recreation-entertainment-sustainability-leader-chris-devolder-presents-at-the-usgbc-georgia-chapters-2015-annual-meeting/
http://www.hoklife.com/2015/01/29/hok-sports-recreation-entertainment-sustainability-leader-chris-devolder-presents-at-the-usgbc-georgia-chapters-2015-annual-meeting/#commentsThu, 29 Jan 2015 21:39:37 +0000http://www.hoklife.com/?p=34676A sold out crowd of over 200 USGBC members filled the room at the Georgia World Congress Center on to hear HOK’s Chris DeVolder speak alongside Jennifer Ball, Vice President of Planning and Economic Development for Central Atlanta Progress and Tim Trefzer, Sustainability Manager for the Georgia World Congress Center, on sustainability initiatives and achievements in downtown Atlanta.

Chris’ portion of the presentation highlighted the industry leading sustainable strategies being implemented on the New Atlanta Stadium, which is striving to reach the highest level of LEED certification that any professional sports facility has ever achieved. As the sustainability director for the project, Chris spoke about the design and programming initiatives that the stadium is implementing to become a model of high performance, sustainable architecture.

Alan Wieczynski, a USGBC Georgia Chapter Board Member that helped organize the event said, “Chris’ participation in our meeting sharing HOK’s efforts in designing the New Atlanta Stadium was a real highlight. Not only did he educate attendees on the ambitious goals of the project, he surprised us with an inspirational message of environmental stewardship and the importance of authenticity in our lives. Feedback from our members has been outstanding.”

]]>http://www.hoklife.com/2015/01/29/hok-sports-recreation-entertainment-sustainability-leader-chris-devolder-presents-at-the-usgbc-georgia-chapters-2015-annual-meeting/feed/0ARTIC Grand Openinghttp://www.hoklife.com/2015/01/23/artic-grand-opening/
http://www.hoklife.com/2015/01/23/artic-grand-opening/#commentsFri, 23 Jan 2015 23:16:00 +0000http://www.hoklife.com/?p=345962014 was a fantastic year for me. My architecture fraternity, Alpha Rho Chi, celebrated 100 years of existence, I became a California licensed architect, and I finished my first building, the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC), from start to finish with the VIP Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Monday, Dec. 8 and the General Public Grand Opening on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.

While it was awesome to hear from the VIPs and the public that they thought the building was amazingly beautiful, that ARTIC achieved the iconic status they were looking for, that the project came in on time and on budget, that CA high speed rail was breaking ground in the next few days, and how grateful the City of Anaheim was, I couldn’t help but think about all the work that went into ARTIC. And that it was after all a HUGE group effort. Having this photo published in ENR is something everyone involved with the project can be proud of.

(And since Academy Awards is coming up…) I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the people I had a pleasure working with on this project during construction, the collective team helped make this project come alive from paper to reality…

Design – HOK – Design Principal – Ernest Cirangle, Project Manager – Albert Kaneshiro, Project Architect – Kazem Toossi, Spec writer – Terry Mattison who has been with HOK for over 50 years, our wonderful interior designers Barbara Ostroff and Stephanie Kotowski, and to the person who taught me the most and worked with me on a daily basis on this project, Hector Ayala.

Anyways, it has been about a month since ARTIC wound down for me. And while there are a few things left for me to do on the project, including submitting to USGBC where we are still anticipating LEED Platinum status, I feel like a pound puppy trying to readjust to a new home while looking forward to a new year and new challenges. So here’s to 2015!

BRING. IT. ON.

]]>http://www.hoklife.com/2015/01/23/artic-grand-opening/feed/0HOK’s Net Zero Water Ideation Event: Designing Our Future Through Creative Partnershiphttp://www.hoklife.com/2015/01/14/hoks-net-zero-water-ideation-event-designing-our-future-through-creative-partnership/
http://www.hoklife.com/2015/01/14/hoks-net-zero-water-ideation-event-designing-our-future-through-creative-partnership/#commentsWed, 14 Jan 2015 19:08:38 +0000http://www.hoklife.com/?p=34550Dozens of California communities are starting to dry up. No, they’re not banning alcohol – they’re rapidly running out of water. In response, HOK’s San Francisco office recently hosted a cross-disciplinary, one-day workshop tackling this major problem with the goal of generating actionable ideas for small cities seeking a more resilient water supply.

Brian Jencek, HOK’s design director for planning and landscape architecture for the West Coast region, presents the prototypical case study of “Springfield by the Sea,” a coastal community that is running out of water.

From NASA scientists to environmental non-profit leaders, the event was attended by a group of field-leading experts on scientific research, art, policy, engineering and venture capital from public, private and academic institutions. After a general group discussion that framed the context of the problem, attendees broke into four groups to problem-solve the water crisis for two theoretical small California towns: one in the Central Valley and one on the coast. The teams developed diverse responses, from practical decision charts to new conceptual models.

Of particular interest was a plan for healthy reclamation of greywater and blackwater as a means of providing a new potable water source, mitigating the boom/bust cycle of drought. This is a proven strategy but is fraught with challenges due to misconceptions and a widespread lack of standards and policies. HOK’s net zero water team is developing and refining select ideas, with the full intent that they be published, and, hopefully, copied and scaled.

Subject matter experts discussing the California water crisis

Members of the net zero water team believe that truly creative outcomes occur at the intersections between differing disciplines, cultures and generations. Through this event and similar events in the future, the team intends to draw in the global brain trust and look for ways to achieve new ground to build a better future together.

HOK’s San Francisco office is actively planning a public open-house for spring 2015. This event will feature the findings from the workshop and a showcase of innovative projects from a curated group of companies that are providing novel solutions to different components of the water supply problem.

David Sedlak, co-director of Berkeley Water Center, presents his team’s ideas to the group. He said, “I think the greatest benefit that HOK can offer on the topic [of water scarcity] is bringing the conversation to new arenas.”

Imagine H2O is a nonprofit organization with a vision is to turn water challenges into opportunities. Workshop participant: Scott Bryan, COO

Wholly H2O is a catalyst for sustainable, localized water management in California that seeks to advance locally-appropriate solutions for water conservation and water reuse. Workshop participant: Elizabeth Dougherty, executive director

The net-zero competition challenged HOK’s teams to create a conceptual net-zero energy design for a building on a site in their local community. Teams were required to use HOK’s Sustainable Analysis Tool to obtain climate data, set energy use intensity (EUI) targets and estimate the size of on-site renewable energy systems required to reach net-zero energy.

The D-breath team designed a public medical office northeast of the 2nd Ring Road in Beijing, where there is a massive air pollution problem. The site sits quietly in the neighborhood of the famous Linked Hybrid residential blocks designed by Steven Holl.

What drove your decision to create a medical office building?

We chose to design a public medical office with the aim to develop it as a prototypical urban amenity for local communities. The medical office program offered an interesting challenge for us since we had to interpret the differences between Western and Eastern medical cultures while providing an essential connection between humans and nature for Beijing residents.

How did the site affect your design?

The low-density site is adjacent to a canal and an abandoned parking area, exposing it to wind and natural light. We designed the 53,800-square-foot (5,000-square-meter) project to accommodate the building program while maintaining harmony with the surrounding landscape.

The site constraints gave us the opportunity to develop the design with maximum surface area and the ability to accommodate geothermal energy use.

What kind of renewable energy did you choose? How did you design the building to be more efficient?

Based on the climate in Beijing, we chose to design a geothermal cooling system with integrated passive ventilation. This was compatible with a larger strategy of creating a loop of building systems that achieve net-zero energy performance.

The building form was created to optimize energy performance. An intelligent, charcoal-brick framework and infill system incorporate smart modules that are based on optimal orientations to utilize the sun and wind. Solar heat is harvested for energy exchange and natural ventilation strategies are fully integrated into the structure and envelope.

How did the HOK Sustainable Analysis report impact the design?

This tool helped us evaluate the sustainable design strategy in depth. It was interesting to observe how energy inputs vary greatly within the program itself. We compared our analysis with the Revit climate analysis tool and decided to combine the basic principles with our real-life experience to create our design.

What was your favorite part of the design competition?

In this competition, we considered how to address an ubiquitous and serious problem in China – air pollution. With “D-breath,” we focused on creating a net-zero carbon structure that actually purifies and filters the polluted air, helping to provide a better breathing environment for Beijing residents.

While we focused on finding a solution to a local problem, D-breath, which features an infill system tailored to the specific geographic location to maximize the performance, can be located anywhere in the world.

The net-zero competition challenged HOK’s teams to create a conceptual net-zero energy design for a building on a site in their local communities. Teams were required to use HOK’s Sustainable Analysis Tool to obtain climate data, set energy use intensity (EUI) targets and estimate the size of on-site renewable energy systems required to reach net-zero energy.

The soLar team designed a mixed-use building on a site in downtown Los Angeles. The team’s design won first place in the internal HOK competition.

Tell us about your building. What major factors impacted the design?

Our project site is located amid many recently redeveloped medium- and high-rise commercial and multifamily projects. We proposed a mixed-use building to integrate into the neighborhood by matching existing uses, demographics and densities. Our building incorporates offices on the first-floor retail level, three stories of class B offices and 10 stories of apartments configured along single-loaded corridors.

The site is surrounded by existing buildings that interrupt access to the full skydome. To address this constraint, we rotated the residential floors to maximize solar access. We used a highly efficient solar generation technology to maximize the energy conversion of the daylight.

Adjacent construction also influenced our decisions about placement of occupied spaces that would benefit from natural ventilation and daylighting.

What kind of renewable energy did you design the building to use?How did your HOK Sustainable Analysis report impact that decision?

Being in Los Angeles, solar panels were an obvious place to start. But the HOK Sustainable Analysis tool showed that a conventional system would not provide the yield we needed.

To maximize the area available for solar collection, we designed a freeform veil with jewel-like concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) collectors oriented toward maximum sun exposure and contoured to minimize shelf shading and obstruction by neighboring buildings. As a semi-porous surface, the veil directs water runoff to filtration terraces on the building’s roof podium, where it is diverted for use in the CPV heating loop.

Multi-junction receivers operate at 40 percent efficiency by reflecting solar energy to a small area on each collector. To sustain that efficiency, large amounts of heat must be shed by the receiver. Instead of dissipating the heat to the ambient air, soLAr’s veil captures it in a water-coolant loop and routes the energy for use in absorption chillers for cooling individual
apartments and retail and office spaces.

For each kW of electricity, an additional 2 kW of heat energy is made available for cooling or water treatment and desalination. Heat shed by the collectors that cannot be recaptured drives a convection stack effect on one side of the residential tower, enhancing the natural through-ventilation of each apartment.

How else did the HOK Sustainable Analysis report impact the design?

Our HOK Sustainable Analysis report showed that the local climate was favorable to certain strategies and not others. The report showed that, even with a reduction in energy use and covering the entire site with a conventional PV installation, the building would not produce enough energy to achieve net zero. We then worked to find strategies to reduce our project’s EUI and considered alternative power generation strategies to not only be net zero, but net positive. The need to reduce the building’s energy use led us to explore how the different water, power and ventilation systems could integrate and benefit from each other.

How did you design the building to be more efficient?

We looked to design for efficiency in a number of ways:

A mechanical parking system allowed us to offer parking for all the residential units, while eliminating emissions typically generated from car movements in conventional garage layouts. The system also eliminates the need to mechanically ventilate large volumes of below-grade parking.

Elevator use is minimized by locating offices within a walkable height of entry level.

Bi-level apartments have access to daylight and natural ventilation on opposing sides. The three occupancy types have distinct daily energy use patterns that surge at different times, moderating peak demand for resources. Basic conservation measures, including occupancy sensors, automatic faucets and low-flow fixtures minimize electricity and water consumption.

What was a main takeaway from the design process?

As architects and designers, our learning curve related to advanced energy building systems was steep. We spent many hours doing research to find examples and statistics related to the potential systems we could integrate to develop a highly efficient design. Though finding and internalizing the information was not a quick process, it allowed us to focus on the most promising systems.

What is your favorite aspect of soLar’s design?

Our favorite part of the design process was the discovery of synergies between systems. We found, for example, that a byproduct that had the potential to act as a disadvantage of a system could be repurposed and incorporated into a different system to provide efficiency.

It is exciting to now have soLAr as a conceptual starting point that scrapes the surface of the possibilities to bring renewable energy technology from an industrial scale to an architectural design.

Logical next steps in developing the veil strategy are to study the freeform shape relative to optimal convection effects and other wind inputs. Elaborating on the structural support system may bring a different dimension or “texture” to the surface and expose more opportunities for synergies.

These topics are naturally at the intersection of BIM and our buildingSMART goals for a data-driven design process that uses digital tools to achieve measurable performance improvements in HOK’s projects.

The net-zero competition challenged HOK’s teams to create a conceptual net-zero energy design for a building on a site in their local communities. Teams were required to use HOK’s Sustainable Analysis Tool to obtain climate data, set energy use intensity (EUI) targets and estimate the size of on-site renewable energy systems required to reach net-zero energy.

The Feedback Hydronics team chose to design a culinary school on a site south of downtown St. Louis in the LaSalle Park neighborhood. The team’s design won third place in the internal HOK competition.

Tell us about your building. What major factors impacted the design?

We chose a culinary school with 10 teaching kitchens and a public restaurant. From a sustainability perspective, the high-energy demand and high volume of waste associated with cooking offered interesting challenges and opportunities. Additionally, we believed the program could bring some energy to a neighborhood that is near two metropolitan areas, but fairly underdeveloped.

The building’s roof and skin system is oriented to the southeast for maximum solar thermal gain. This correlates with the site’s layout, as the building is taller on the north side and takes advantage of city views.

The roof system extends past the boundary of the site, over an adjacent parking lot, to capture rainwater and solar energy. Adding covered parking, a valuable amenity, justified designing beyond the site’s boundaries.

How did you design the building to be more efficient?

The central piece of our strategy is the structural roof and skin system. It is a quilt-like surface made up of four pod types for solar thermal collection, rainwater collection and distribution, photovoltaics and glazing to help regulate natural light.

Solar thermal and rainwater harvesting made sense as renewable energy choices based on St. Louis’ climate. The two energy types are compatible with a larger strategy of creating a loop of building systems, including radiant in-floor heating and an anaerobic digester.

How did your HOK Sustainable Analysis report impact the design?

The report helped quantify what we were up against in terms of energy demand. Once the demand was broken down, we could focus on strategies to bring balance.

What was a main takeaway from the design process?

Local conditions play a big role in setting the parameters for the design process. For example, we determined that the climate in St. Louis eliminated strategies like stack ventilation that can be very productive in other parts of the world.

Greenbuild is always a great time to meet up with clients, peers and industry leaders while learning about the latest developments in LEED certification, product manufacturing and performance standards. I went to Greenbuild to do all of those things, but also to speak on a panel about the District of Columbia’s adoption of the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). My fellow panelists were Fulya Kocak, director of sustainability at Clark Construction, and Dave Epley, green building and sustainability coordinator for the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA).

In 2006, Washington, DC, passed the Green Building Act requiring publicly-funded construction to be LEED-certified at the Silver level (or Gold for schools) starting in 2008, and privately-funded construction to be LEED certified starting in 2012. At that time there was no green building code so LEED was being mandated or incentivized in jurisdictions all over the US.

The funny thing about LEED is that it’s not designed to be enforced like a code. LEED is a flexible rating system with credits in multiple categories, many of which have numerous compliance paths. Additionally, certification must be validated by a third party: the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). A jurisdiction has no control over whether a building is eligible for LEED certification or deemed in compliance with the LEED criteria. It also means code reviewers and building inspectors would have to become LEED experts in order to determine if a project would likely meet LEED criteria at the time of construction permitting and building inspections (long before the actual certification is issued).

In 2008, HOK helped support the implementation of the Green Building Act by developing processes, tools, resources and training for DCRA, the Department of General Services (DGS) and other agencies.

The benefit of the Green Building Act’s long lead time was that it gave the private sector an opportunity to adopt LEED before it was mandated. Many HOK clients decided they didn’t want the ‘last brown building on the block’ and began to immediately aim for LEED certification on their existing projects. Coupled with the competitive spirit of developers, it quickly became a race to achieve higher and higher levels of LEED certification until most new Class A buildings were pursuing Platinum.

This overwhelming acceptance and endorsement of LEED in Washington, DC, shows that the market was able to adapt very quickly. Green building became the only option in a short amount of time. Therefore, there was no longer a premium to build green – it became the new standard. The AEC industry gained expertise in sustainability and garnered robust experience during this time. The industry-wide adoption of LEED certification positively affected populations that otherwise might not have had access to green building strategies, such as affordable housing and schools.

Washington, DC, currently boasts more than 100 million square feet of LEED-certified space per capita, indicating the Green Building Act was wildly successful in creating a greener city.

Despite the success of mandating LEED certification city-wide, once the IgCC 2012 was released, the city decided that a green code would ultimately be a better mandatory standard than LEED.

A Green Technical Advisory Group (TAG) – including myself and HOK senior specifications writer Joe Winters – was convened to review the 2012 IgCC in-depth and adapt it for use in DC.

Once again leading the nation in the area of green building, Washington, DC, was the first city to adopt the IgCC in its entirety. There were three public comment periods during which TAG invited industry groups such as the District of Columbia Building Industry Association (DCBIA) and the Apartment and Office Building Association (AOBA) to sit with us to review comments and answer questions. As a result of these efforts to include the affected parties, the DC version of IgCC was passed by the District Council in March of 2014 without a hearing – a rare occurrence for any code!

Now that the IgCC is available, Washington, DC, will likely amend its Green Building Act to remove the LEED mandate for private construction, but keep it in place for public projects. The city decided to allow projects pursuing LEED to use that as an alternative compliance path for IgCC. It is likely that even if the mandatory LEED provision goes away for the private sector, many will still pursue certification for marketing reasons. After all, who likes to brag about meeting code?

The Engage! series is essentially an open house event that provides an opportunity for students, interns, architects, engineers and other allied professionals in the Los Angeles region to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, exchange and generate ideas, and learn about the host firm’s expertise and work. Oh, and to have a good time!

Marketing Principal, Alicia Wachtel kicked off the event with an introduction to HOK – what we do, how long we have been around, etc.

Thom inspired the crowd with his passion for design and biomimicry. He showed us how nature has a way of creating a beautiful structure with balancing the energy used to create them, and how this was translated into the USGBC’s Project Haiti (which was renamed to the William Jefferson Clinton Children’s Center).

Following the presentation, we had a few groups touring the office since there were about 75 people who attended.

All in all, a great event! Good food and drinks, great presentation, and fantastic time catching up with so many that I haven’t seen or spoken to for a long time!

Last Tuesday night, HOK in Los Angeles’ Thomas Knittel took part in a panel hosted by the Westside Branch of the US Green Building Council in Los Angeles on the subject of water challenges, looking to nature for solutions – biomimetic approaches to water conservation.

As of July, over 58% of areas in California have entered the highest, or exceptional, stage of drought. In addition to the ongoing social, economic, and environmental costs of wasting water, new green building frameworks such as the Living Building Challenge are emphasizing Net-Zero or closed-loop water systems.

Thomas spoke about biomimicry, the emulation of elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems and how designers can look to the ecologies of place for clues on how to help reduce the water use of a building, landscape or infrastructure.

Thomas Knittel, AIA, LEED AP BD+C is a senior principal of design in HOK’s Los Angeles studio. He is the firm’s leading advocate of bio-inspired design– drawing inspiration from natural systems to solve human problems – and holds a Biomimicry Specialty Certificate from Biomimicry 3.8. The organization also honored him with the 2013 Excellence in Biomimicry Award. Thomas was the lead designer for Project Haiti, a pro bono partnership between the U.S. Green Building Council and HOK to design a LEED Platinum orphanage and children’s center in Port-au-Prince. He was coauthor for the Genius of Biome report, a biomimicry resource created by HOK and Biomimicry 3.8, and holds a MDesS from Harvard Graduate School of Design.